Ben nervously walked up to the checkout desk in the Derry Library. The old librarian hadn't been too patient with him and he hoped the woman working at the desk would be nicer. He reached the desk and hesitated. The woman looked up and smiled at him.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked.

"Um…yeah," Ben said. "I'm looking for some books on Derry's history."

"Is there anything specific you're looking for in history?"

"Mostly just the history of the last 50 years or so."

"Sure thing," the woman said. She pointed to a bookshelf to her left. "That's where you can find all of the books we have on Derry's history. Most of them have the time period they cover written on their spines."

"Thanks for the help, erm…" Ben said, looking around for a nametag, but not finding one.

"Sarah," said the woman. "My name is Sarah."

"Thanks, Sarah. My name is Ben."

"Nice to meet you, Ben. If you don't mind my asking, why the interest? I would've thought someone your age would rather be hanging out with your friends now that school's out."

Ben hesitated, unsure if he could tell her the real reason why he was suddenly interested in Derry's history. He decided a version of the truth couldn't hurt. "Well, I'm kinda new to town and I don't know much about this place, so I'd like to find out more. I don't really have any friends yet."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ben," Sarah said, giving Ben a sympathetic look. "But I will say you've got at least one friend," she added, smiling and pointing at herself.

Ben grinned. "Thanks, Sarah. You seem pretty cool. For a librarian."

They both laughed before Sarah spoke again. "Well, I'll let you go and check out those books. You let me know if you need anything, all right?"

"Sure will," Ben replied.


Days Later

Pennywise had its arms around Eddie's face. It was drooling uncontrollably, its hunger barely containable.

"Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear!" It snarled before it opened its mouth, revealing multiple carnivorous teeth.

Suddenly, Richie and Bill burst through the door. Pennywise whipped around and stared at them; its teeth back where they belonged.

"Eddie!" Richie exclaimed. "Oh fuck, Eddie!"

Pennywise slowly started to stand up as It spoke to Bill in a high-pitched voice. "This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you?"

"Holy shit!" cried Richie.

"It was real enough for Georgie!" Pennywise said before laughing maniacally and letting out a scream as It leapt up and made for Eddie and Richie, who grabbed each other. Before It could reach them, Bev let out a scream and attacked It with a poker, stabbing It in the eye.

As It stood there, almost confused, the rest of the Losers entered the room.

"Get Eddie!" Richie yelled.

They all ran for Eddie and sat down next to him. Eddie seemed frozen with fear, his right arm totally useless. Within a few seconds, Pennywise turned back around at them and yanked the poker out of its head. It shook its head for a few seconds and the wound seemed to heal itself right before their eyes.

Pennywise slowly started to advance on the Losers. They all screamed in terror as he came closer. Richie, trying to distract Eddie, grabbed Eddie's head and turned it toward him.

"Eddie, listen to me, I'm gonna snap your arm back into place!"

"Do not fucking touch me!" Eddie shouted back.

"Just hang on!" Richie fired back before grabbing Eddie's arm and forcing it back into place. Eddie screamed in pain, but his arm was no longer as disfigured as it had been. Richie and Eddie turned back to It, which was inching closer toward the group. The Losers screamed as Pennywise made to attack them.

BANG!

A shot rang out and Pennywise stumbled backward, clearly having been hit.

"What the fuck?" Richie yelled.

They all heard footsteps from outside the room they were in. Suddenly, a woman ran into the room, brandishing a handgun. She was dressed in all black and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. When Ben looked up and saw her, he almost screamed out of shock.

"Holy shit, Sarah!" he exclaimed.

"Stay down, Ben!" Sarah shouted back.

Suddenly, Pennywise seemed to recover from the gunshot wound and looked at Sarah. Its eyes widened in shock and It snarled.

"You!" It roared.

Sarah smiled, pleased that Pennywise recognized her. "I've been waiting for you, you bastard."

Pennywise let out its maniac laugh again. "I knew I shouldn't have let you live, but now I can kill you!"

With that, It lurched forward and knocked the gun out of Sarah's hands. It then kicked her away from the Losers, who all stood up quickly to get out of the way. None of them dared reach for the gun; they knew they wouldn't be able to use it properly. Sarah, though, recovered quickly and engaged Pennywise in a fistfight.

Pennywise was caught off-guard and had difficulty blocking Sarah's attacks. Sarah, who had clearly trained for this confrontation, seemed to be able to sense Pennywise's moves and was able to land a series of punches and kicks on It. Eventually, Pennywise succeeded in blocking one of Sarah's blows and knocked her to the ground. Sarah quickly recovered from her fall and stood back up, suddenly brandishing a knife she had been concealing. As Pennywise made to block Sarah's attack, she surprised It by stabbing It through the left arm, which It had been using to block her attack.

It yelped in pain, the blood shooting quickly from its arm. Sarah grinned at It as she yanked the knife out of its arm, shaking the blood off the knife. Pennywise stumbled backward again, clutching its arm. While It stared at the injured arm, Sarah glanced over at the Losers, who had looks of awe on their faces. Acting quickly, Bev kicked the gun toward Sarah, who picked it up and fired more shots at Pennywise. Sarah fired five more shots before Pennywise fell onto the closet It had originally appeared in, which collapsed and seemingly buried It.

"Holy fucking shit!" Richie exclaimed.

"Quiet!" Sarah snapped. "That motherfucker might still be over there, ready to attack."

Sarah kept her gun trained in front of her as she advanced on the downed closet. When she reached it, there was no sign of Pennywise; It had disappeared, clearly knowing the advantage Sarah had in the fight. When she was convinced It was gone, Sarah put her gun into the holster on her belt and she turned around and faced the Losers.

"Sarah, how in the hell did you know where we were?" Ben demanded as Sarah approached them.

"I'll explain later," Sarah said dismissively.

"Aren't you a librarian?" asked Mike.

"Yeah I work there," Sarah replied as she approached Richie, who was holding up Eddie, who still looked scared out of his wits. "Are you all right?" she asked Eddie, who nodded. "Good thinking on your part, snapping his arm back into place like that," she added to Richie. "That'll help the doctors repair it easier." She turned to the rest of them. "What about the rest of you, are you injured at all?"

"No," said Ben.

"I'm fine," Mike answered.

"Just a few scratches," added Bev.

"N-n-no," said Bill. "I'm OK."

"I'm good," Stan said. "Scared shitless, but I'm good."

Sarah nodded before turning back to Eddie. "It's Eddie, right?" Eddie nodded; it seemed as though he had lost his voice. "It's OK, you can talk whenever you're ready. You just had something traumatic happen to you. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel."

Finally, Eddie found his voice. "You do?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I do," Sarah replied. "But I won't explain it here. We've got to get out of here in case It returns. I promise, I'll tell you all everything I know once we're out of here. Let's go and get to the hospital. And Eddie, keep your arm elevated as much as you can and don't move it too much."